Zenmuse z30 vs x5s Camera w/ 45mm - 175mm

Perspectrum · Apr 23, 2018

Did some tests today with the 45mm -175mm lens on my Inspire 2 and was very impressed with the quality.
I started wondering FOV wise how much tighter of a shot is the z30 camera over the 45mm-145mm lens.

The z30 has a field of view of 63.7°(Wide) - 2.3°(Tele). Effective 1200mm

The 45mm-175mm has a field of view of 27° Wide - 7.1° (Tele). Effective 350mm

Doing some more digging the z30 only has an Effective resolution of 2.13 M.
Where the x5s camera has an Effective resolution of 20.8MP.

If you digitally zoomed in the 20mp photo from the 45mm-175mm to 2mp it would be around 3500mm.

Where is the benefit of the z30? Just a bit closer live images I guess.

www.Perspectrumdronephotography.com

MrTVR · Apr 23, 2018

Which 45-175, the F4.0-5.6 ASPH OIS Panasonic?

How have you balanced it and does the X5S work the zoom & focus OK?

Perspectrum · Apr 23, 2018

Yeah it works perfect.

MrTVR · Apr 24, 2018

At 210g it’s heavier than all of the DJI approved lenses.

How have you balanced it?

Perspectrum · Apr 24, 2018

MrTVR said:
At 210g it’s heavier than all of the DJI approved lenses.

How have you balanced it?

I ordered the custom back cap from here.
DJi Inspire 2 Custom Balance Weights for 45 ~ 175 Lens (with Cap) : Mi…

It works perfectly. I make sure not to fly aggressively to make sure that the extra weight does not to put too much strain on the servos.

MrTVR · Apr 24, 2018

Perspectrum said:
I ordered the custom back cap from here.
DJi Inspire 2 Custom Balance Weights for 45 ~ 175 Lens (with Cap) : Mi…

It works perfectly. I make sure not to fly aggressively to make sure that the extra weight does not to put too much strain on the servos.

Thank you for the link but they seem very expensive!

I might just purchase another 9-18mm balancing kit and add some extra lead weights to it to get it to balance.

Perspectrum · Apr 25, 2018

MrTVR said:
Thank you for the link but they seem very expensive!

I might just purchase another 9-18mm balancing kit and add some extra lead weights to it to get it to balance.

It is a bit more of an expense but it is worth the money because if it is not balanced correctly with this much weight it will ruin the gimbal of the camera.

Dan_P · Apr 28, 2018

I am very interested in this. I have been wondering exactly the same thing but don't have the gear to do a comparison. If the 45-175 lens on the x5s camera gives comparable resolution when digitally zoomed and you dont need to zoom in live then the x5s could be a better option then the z30 depending on what you are using it for. I am looking forward to hearing more on your comparison.

kadmow · Apr 28, 2018

Perspectrum said:
I ordered the custom back cap from here.
DJi Inspire 2 Custom Balance Weights for 45 ~ 175 Lens (with Cap) : Mi…

Stupid Question. (but I must ask)

How does the back cap come off??

I have only got the kit lens at this stage (I didn't realise that the 45-175 worked...) so haven't needed to remove the cap. (I have the balancing ring for the 15-45mm zoom lens, I intend to give that a go in the "near future")

When I was first going through the datasheets and manuals, I "tried" to remove the back cap and it doesn't seem to want to come off.... (I haven't see anyone giving any hints on this.)

Lots of people seem to just make some weights and velcro them onto the back of the cap..

MrTVR · Apr 28, 2018

kadmow said:
Stupid Question. (but I must ask)

How does the back cap come off??

Simply twist it anti-clockwise to remove.

kadmow · Apr 28, 2018

Thanks for that hint, one other query..

There is a balancing cap on as standard isn't there (there has to be because there isn't a bayonet fitting visible, as standard, but someone else on another thread cast doubt on that.....).

Just hoping that I wasn't trying to yank the back of the camera off. lol.

MrTVR · Apr 28, 2018

kadmow said:
Thanks for that hint, one other query..

There is a balancing cap on as standard isn't there (there has to be because there isn't a bayonet fitting visible, as standard, but someone else on another thread cast doubt on that.....).

Just hoping that I wasn't trying to yank the back of the camera off. lol.

The rear cap is a screw fit, not bayonet but it is a standard part of the X5S.

If you can’t see a thread at the rear of the camera body then the cap must still be on.

MrTVR · May 2, 2018

Help please ...

I have purchased the Panasonic 45-145 lens and balanced it but doesn’t seem to work reliably. Anyone have any suggestions?

When I try to autofocus it takes about 10 seconds during which time the focus does not seem to change and it then puts a red a/f square up without actually focusing.

When I try to calibrate the lens it fails most of the time but occasionally will complete the calibration but never actually says that the calibration was ok.

In manual, the focus very rarely responds to the focus control. Occasionally the focus will ‘flicker’ and sometimes I get lucky and the image is in focus, however this process can take several minutes!

The lens is on firmware version 1.3 and works perfectly on my Panasonic G7 camera.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? At the moment the lens is pretty much unusable.

Perspectrum · May 27, 2018

MrTVR said:
Help please ...

I have purchased the Panasonic 45-145 lens and balanced it but doesn’t seem to work reliably. Anyone have any suggestions?

When I try to autofocus it takes about 10 seconds during which time the focus does not seem to change and it then puts a red a/f square up without actually focusing.

When I try to calibrate the lens it fails most of the time but occasionally will complete the calibration but never actually says that the calibration was ok.

In manual, the focus very rarely responds to the focus control. Occasionally the focus will ‘flicker’ and sometimes I get lucky and the image is in focus, however this process can take several minutes!

The lens is on firmware version 1.3 and works perfectly on my Panasonic G7 camera.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? At the moment the lens is pretty much unusable.

I have not experienced this. I have noticed some slow responses but not to that extent. I will do more tests with the newer firmware.

MrTVR · May 28, 2018

Perspectrum said:
I have not experienced this. I have noticed some slow responses but not to that extent. I will do more tests with the newer firmware.

Since my original post I have had a slightly more luck. I realised that the lens often takes a long time to focus and if you get impatient and tap the screen again too soon it seems to prevent it from focusing at all.

Patience is a virtue, as they say.

FlyaDrone · May 28, 2018

@Perspectrum did you also use the counter balance weight that he has for attaching to outside of the gimbal pivot point?

Thanks and very interested for your upcoming tests and comments.

BTW - Any comments on lens quality of this 45-175mm vs. the Oly 14-42mm?

RB30x · Jun 2, 2019

Perspectrum said:
Did some tests today with the 45mm -175mm lens on my Inspire 2 and was very impressed with the quality.
I started wondering FOV wise how much tighter of a shot is the z30 camera over the 45mm-145mm lens.

The z30 has a field of view of 63.7°(Wide) - 2.3°(Tele). Effective 1200mm

The 45mm-175mm has a field of view of 27° Wide - 7.1° (Tele). Effective 350mm

Doing some more digging the z30 only has an Effective resolution of 2.13 M.
Where the x5s camera has an Effective resolution of 20.8MP.

If you digitally zoomed in the 20mp photo from the 45mm-175mm to 2mp it would be around 3500mm.

Where is the benefit of the z30? Just a bit closer live images I guess.

I will be posting more photos for comparisons soon.

www.Perspectrumdronephotography.com

Great work. I was chatting to a guys recently who was bragging about his Z30 and I was meaning to figure out what the equivalent (X zoom) would be for the 175mm. Obviously the 30x sounds impressive but also has a lot to do with how wide the FOV is when zoomed out. Our 45-175mm are already starting quite zoomed in at 45mm. Calculate 63.7' / 2.3' = 27.7. Is this where they get the 30x optical for the Z30??
If so if you assumed the 45-175mm could zoom out to the same FOV as the Z30, 63.7' / 7.1' = 8.9. Say 9x optical, but as you said the resolution is 10x better than the Z30 (20MP vs 2.13MP). So if you include digitally zooming in post, what equivalent (X zoom) would we say the 175mm is??

Perspectrum · Jun 2, 2019

So the 30x zoom comes from how wide it can go to how zoomed in it can go. In theory if the 45-175 could go as wide as the Z30 it would be a 87.5x zoom equivalent with digital zoom. If I did my calculations correct. Hope this helps.

RB30x said:
Great work. I was chatting to a guys recently who was bragging about his Z30 and I was meaning to figure out what the equivalent (X zoom) would be for the 175mm. Obviously the 30x sounds impressive but also has a lot to do with how wide the FOV is when zoomed out. Our 45-175mm are already starting quite zoomed in at 45mm. Calculate 63.7' / 2.3' = 27.7. Is this where they get the 30x optical for the Z30??
If so if you assumed the 45-175mm could zoom out to the same FOV as the Z30, 63.7' / 7.1' = 8.9. Say 9x optical, but as you said the resolution is 10x better than the Z30 (20MP vs 2.13MP). So if you include digitally zooming in post, what equivalent (X zoom) would we say the 175mm is??

skareb · Feb 11, 2020

Perspectrum said:
Did some tests today with the 45mm -175mm lens on my Inspire 2 and was very impressed with the quality.
I started wondering FOV wise how much tighter of a shot is the z30 camera over the 45mm-145mm lens.

The z30 has a field of view of 63.7°(Wide) - 2.3°(Tele). Effective 1200mm

The 45mm-175mm has a field of view of 27° Wide - 7.1° (Tele). Effective 350mm

Doing some more digging the z30 only has an Effective resolution of 2.13 M.
Where the x5s camera has an Effective resolution of 20.8MP.

If you digitally zoomed in the 20mp photo from the 45mm-175mm to 2mp it would be around 3500mm.

Where is the benefit of the z30? Just a bit closer live images I guess.

I will be posting more photos for comparisons soon.

www.Perspectrumdronephotography.com

I know this is an old thread, but could i know if you experienced any motor buzzing sound from the gimbal with the 45-175? my lens is in perfect balance, but i can never get rid of the motor buzzing sound, although the motor's temp actually remains relatively cool, so i think i'am not stressing the gimbal.

Another point to note is, i experienced more vibrations (as seen in video recording) with the 45-175mm, needless to say the pronounced effect of vibration/shaky footage is at 175mm... seems like you have no issues with this lens, so i would like to know how smooth is your footage with this lens? Do you have any sample videos to share? Thanks!!

Perspectrum · Feb 11, 2020

skareb said:
I know this is an old thread, but could i know if you experienced any motor buzzing sound from the gimbal with the 45-175? my lens is in perfect balance, but i can never get rid of the motor buzzing sound, although the motor's temp actually remains relatively cool, so i think i'am not stressing the gimbal.

Another point to note is, i experienced more vibrations (as seen in video recording) with the 45-175mm, needless to say the pronounced effect of vibration/shaky footage is at 175mm... seems like you have no issues with this lens, so i would like to know how smooth is your footage with this lens? Do you have any sample videos to share? Thanks!!

I never had my motor buzzing sound. I did experience vibrations when I was moving at 175mm. Once I changed to the Carbon Fiber props from T motor that really helped remove most of the vibrations. I upgraded to the x7 camera so I don't used this setup anymore. One thing I was concerned with is the wear on the gimbal over time with this much weight on it.